Saturday, January 09, 2010

Silverstone Wirless - Dishonest Retailer

Last month I had some XBOX 360 256MB Memory Cards ordered through BUY.COM from one of their partners, Silverstone Wireless. These were supposed to be Brand New cards for $9.99 each with $3.99 each shipping and handling. I thought this would be a great deal for a discontinued product. Boy was I wrong.

Here is what arrived in the mail:

I paid $3.99 per unit or $7.98 for shipping and handling. Didn't get a padded envelope, didn't get anything better than First Class Parcel shipping, and the units are missing their protective carrying cases which Microsoft normally includes with every unit they ship. Clearly not brand new units.

Below is the packing list sent from Silverstone Wireless, clear stating NEW as the condition of the units.

So, I contacted BUY.COM, but they stated that they are not responsible for the veracity of what their embedded shops do, and would offer me no help with this issue. So, FIRST WARNING - DO NOT BUY FROM BUY.COM sub vendors, you have no recourse with BUY.COM, and they DO NOT CARE if their vendors rip you off, it is not their problem.

So, next I contacted Silverstone Wireless, let them know what happened, and asked what they would do for me. Their offer is below:

That's right, if I lie, and say their store is great, they will give me $9.99. So, SECOND WARNING - DO NOT BUY FROM SILVERSTONE WIRELESS, and DO NOT TRUST THEIR ONLINE REVIEWS, THEY PAY FOR THEM. That's right, if they are willing to pay me for a good review when they didn't do what they advertised, it is a safe bet I'm not the first person to be made this offer. Who knows what has been reviewed on their site under such a plan.

So, how do I know that these are really used and not new memory units? Check out this screen shot from the contents on one of the units:

Yes, I now have a copy of the Gamertag profile "SW", and a game save for Medal of Honor for that Gamertag. THIRD WARNING - When you sell something that has memory, game console, computer, camera, etc. WIPE THE MEMORY BEFORE YOU SELL.